The city's Planning Council is about to run an architectural design contest to select a new concept for a reconstruction of Sennaya Square in early 2010 year, the City Hall announced on Friday.

The plans are for the total rebuilding of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin and the construction of a massive new shopping center "PIK2" and hotel complex.

Yury Mityurev, St. Petersburg’s chief architect, said a contest will be held for Russian architects in early 2010 to select the best project for the development of the Sennaya Square area.

Earlier this year the city authorities decreed that the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, which was demolished in 1961, should be entirely rebuilt. Smolny has also given its backing to the construction of a hotel complex at 47 and 49 Gorokhovaya Ulitsa and the PIK-II shopping center on Sennaya Square itself.

The planning council last week reviewed a concept plan for the square proposed by the Rosar architectural bureau. The council members were highly critical of Rosar’s idea of juxtaposing the reconstructed church and the planned PIK-II shopping mall. Rosar’s plan envisaged the church and the shopping center standing right next to one another. Architect and council member Yury Kurbatov branded the suggested architectural solution “medieval”. “Yes, in some medieval European towns you can sometime see such churches located very next to shopping areas and markets, but St. Petersburg is not a medieval town,” he said. “In our city, it would not be appropriate.”

Nikita Yavein, another architect, was even more outspoken in his negative reaction to the concept presented. “Nothing could be more dissonant next to a church than having a busy shopping mall next door,” Yavein said. “It would be nothing other than a demonstration of poor taste.”

Mityurev said that during the 2010 competition the jury would pay particular attention to the architectural designs of the facade of the new PIK-II shopping center and its location in relation to the church.

Built in the second half of the 18th century, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin was demolished in 1961 to make room for the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station. The city’s architectural community, including the city’s Union of Architects, has been campaigning for more than 15 years for the reconstruction of the church.

Dmitry Kunets, chief architect of the St. Petersburg metro, expressed doubts about the advisability of rebuilding the church on its historic site, noting that most of the area is occupied by the halls of the metro station, which would have to be considerably altered. “The concept of the church’s reconstruction, as it’s envisaged at present, appears to be completely surreal,” Kunets said. “It is dangerous to play with such issues as passenger flows.”

I remember back in the good old days before the 1918 revolution, and way before the Sennaya Metro Station replaced the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in 1961.Sennaya Ploschad was a beautiful large square and market. The real soul of St. Petersburg.I sure hope it becomes a thing of beauty again. Just compare the church with the metro station!